Earlier today, Josh Jacobs, Tony Pollard and Saquon Barkley, three running backs, failed to agree to a long-term extension with their respective teams. It brought back the discourse over the value of a running back, and Pittsburgh Steelers running back Najee Harris chimed on Twitter, replying to a tweet from Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry.
“I agree with my running back brothers around the NFL- history will show that you need running backs to win- we set the tone every game and run trough [sic] walls for our team and lead in many ways- this notion that we deserve less is a joke,” Harris wrote.
Henry replied to a tweet from ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller, who basically said the life cycle of running backs doesn’t extend past their first contract.
“At this point, just take the RB position out the game then,” Henry wrote. “The ones that want to be great & work as hard as they can to give their all to an organization just seems like it don’t even matter. I’m with every RB that’s fighting to get what they deserve.”
Harris is entering his third season in the league, which as a first-round pick, means he’s due for a decision on his fifth-year option after the year. He needs to show improvement from his first two seasons for that option to be exercised, as Harris has failed to average 4.0 yards per carry during his career. The fifth-year option would obviously be for the 2025 season, and could pay Harris in the neighborhood of $10-11 million. For more on his fifth-year option situation, check out Dave Bryan’s article breaking it down.
It’s going to be interesting to see how Pittsburgh handles Harris, especially with Jaylen Warren sitting behind him. He’s yet to show that he’s an elite running back, but he’s put up over 1,000 yards in each of his first two seasons and has the pedigree of being a first-round pick. He’s also now spoken out twice about the market for running backs.
If anyone’s going to reset the running back market and show their value, it likely won’t be Harris. At this point, it’s hard to foresee running backs getting much, if any, fully guaranteed money beyond a year on multi-year contracts. They get hit almost every play, and traditionally running backs reach the end of their peak sooner than players at other positions. The NFL isn’t valuing the position, and that’s unlikely to change unless a truly game-breaking player comes along.
But it’s hard not to feel for guys like Harris, Henry, Jacobs and Barkley, who are incredibly valuable to their team but just simply won’t get paid like some of their peers due to their position and how easy it is to find replacements at running back. As the league becomes more and more pass-happy, running backs who can show their value in the passing game as well as the run game, as Christian McCaffrey has done, are really the only guys who might see second contracts.
Harris’ situation is going to be one to monitor over the next few seasons. But it wouldn’t be a surprise if he didn’t see a second contract with the team, and it also wouldn’t be terribly surprising if his fifth-year option wasn’t picked up if he has another season that’s just average.
